Samantha Waldron scored 18 points, knocking down 4-of-6 from three-point range, with three assists, two rebounds and career-high’s of five steals and two blocks in UMKC women’s basketball’s 67-50 win over WAC foe Chicago State in the regular season finale at the Swinney Recreation Center.
“We worked well together today,” Waldron said. “We worked the ball around and our shots were falling. Our defense, though, really got us going. Getting stops gave us energy going to offense. We want to keep this energy going as we enter the tournament. We are going to give it all we have and see what happens.”
Kelsey Barrett matched Waldron’s numbers from long range off the bench, giving her a career-high 12 points, while Kiana Law narrowly missed her third double-double of the season with 13 points and nine rebounds.
“I’m proud of our overall effort,” Head Coach Marsha Frese said. “We started to show the type of balance we can have on this team when it comes together. We got some great efforts out of our bench today. Paige Husa and Kelsey Barrett had their best games at UMKC. Ceidra Coleman came in and gave us great energy. Our starters did a great job of setting the tone and I am excited to see where we can go moving into the postseason.”
Husa finished with a career-high nine rebounds and six points and Taylor Leathers added six points and nine rebounds in her final home game as a ‘Roo.
With the win, UMKC improves to 10-17 overall and closes out WAC play at 5-9, while Chicago State drops to 4-24 on the season and finishes conference play at 2-12.
The two teams started the game slow, combining for just 13 points in the opening quarter with UMKC holding an 8-5 advantage.
The second quarter, however was a different story for the ‘Roos. Husa opened the stanza with a layup off a Barrett assist, and Coleman and Waldron found Barrett open for three on the next two possessions to put UMKC on a 10-0 run and stretch the lead to 11.
Chicago State ended the streak with a basket, but jumpers by Leathers and Coleman made it a 15 point lead just over four minutes into the half.
A three from the Cougars cut the lead down to 12, but Waldron followed Barrett’s lead with back-to-back threes and Leathers closed the half with a rebound put back to send UMKC to the locker room with a 30-10 lead, the fewest points it has allowed in a half this season.
Coming out of the locker room, CSU scored the first six points, but two Aries Washington free throws and another Waldron three pushed the lead back to 19.
The lead would twice more grow back to 20 in the third, first on Barrett’s third three and lastly on a jumper by Waldron, while the Kangaroos would close the quarter with a 19 point lead at 48-29.
Chicago State struck first in the fourth quarter, but a Leathers jumper and Waldron’s final three stretched the lead to a game-high 22 at 53-31 with just under nine minutes left to play.
The Cougars, though, made one final run, cutting the lead down to 12, but it was not enough as UMKC built its lead back up to 19 before coming away with the 17 point victory.
As a team, the ‘Roos shot 8-of-14 from three, good for 57.1 percent, and a perfect 11-for-11 at the line, while out-rebounding the Cougars 42 to 31, including 23 offensive rebounds that led to 22 second chance points. Off the bench, UMKC outscored CSU 24 to four.
Individually, Coleman notched six assists, four points and two rebounds and Washington chipped in six points, three assists and three rebounds.
The Blue & Gold will be back in action again on Wednesday when they open up play in the WAC Tournament at 4 p.m. CT as the no. 5 seed against either Utah Valley or Bakersfield at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.